Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is the fourth title in the Paper Mario series and is exclusively available for the Nintendo 3DS, thus making it the first installment to be supported by a handheld device. The game was released on November 11, 2012 in North America and December 7th, 2012 in Europe and was preceded by 2007'sSuper Paper Mariofor theNintendo Wii.

The game was intially announced at the Nintendo Conference at the Electronic Entertainament Expo (E3) 2010 on June 15, 2010. Unlike the side-scrolling gameplay of it's predecessor, Paper Mario: Sticker Star returns to the series' roots and focuses on the RPG-style gameplay established in the original Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64.

During the game, players take control of the titular character Mario as he explores the overworld and challenges enemies into RPG turn-based battles, as well as obtaining items and power-ups, solving puzzles, etc.

Contents

The story starts during the night of the Sticker Fest, where the citizens of Decalburg come to witness the Sticker Comet which is said to make everyone's wishes come true. As Princess Peach, Mario and the Toads celebrate the event, Bowser and his troops suddenly crash the party to claim the Sticker Comet. The Toads try to prevent Bowser from touching it but fail, and the comet breaks into six Royal Stickers, one of which falls on Bowser’s head making him more powerful. Mario tries to attack him, but is overpowered and later wakes up with the Sticker Fest in a disaster: Toads have been stuck everywhere by Bowser, and the Princess missing. After regaining consciousness, Mario meets Kersti, a sticker fairy and the caretaker of the Royal Stickers. After a conversation with her, Mario then suggests that he will help her get the Royal Stickers back, and Kersti finally agrees with him and gives him an album.

Mario starts by freeing the Toads affixed in tape placed by Bowser in the damaged festival, gaining a hammer in the process. After liberating the Toads, Mario heads towards the plaza east of town and discovers the area rolled up. The Toads push to unroll the Plaza and bring it back to normal, accidentally trapping a Green Toad under the fountain in the process. As Mario leaves the town, he gets ambushed by a trio of Goombas. Kersti uses the opportunity to explain how battling foes with stickers work and Mario defeats the Goombas.

Mario starts his travels through the grasslands and across mountains. In the Warm Fuzzy Plains, Mario and Kersti meet a group of Toads hunting for stickers. They stumbled onto one Toad who dropped a rare Scissors sticker and quickly flees before warning them about Bowser Jr., who appears and demands that they give up the sticker. Mario defeats him using the Scissors sticker, and infuriated Bowser Jr. tears up the bridge using paperization and throws the bridge up onto a high ledge Mario cannot jump onto. Mario and Kersti get help from the group of Toads, who form stairs for them to walk onto the ledge, and Kersti teaches Mario the ability to paperize to fix the bridge. A similar incident occurs in Water's Edge Way, this time with Kamek who is chasing a Toad for his album page, and after losing to Mario uses paperization to toss away the Sticker Comet, which must be found to proceed.

Depending on where Mario goes, he ends up in ether Hither Thither Hill, where Mario rescues a Green Toad, uses a Fan to get access to the windmill's door, hitting 4 number blocks inside to receive a warp pipe scrap, and eventually fighting a Big Buzzy Beetle along the way; or at Whammino Mountain where he goes up a Spiny infested mountain and causing a chain reaction in the level after hitting a fake tree, saving a Blue Toad and gaining a white gate scrap.

After completing ether level, Mario and Kersti arrive at Goomba Fortress, where the first Royal Sticker is being held. Mario travels through the fortress, dealing with its forces to reach the top where he and Kersti confront a Goomba corrupted by the Royal Sticker and his minions, who form into Megasparkle Goomba. Near the end of the battle, the Megasparkle Goomba splits and the other Goombas abandon their boss, claiming that the Royal Sticker is destroying who they are, and saying that they would prefer to be normal Goombas again. The enraged boss begins to battle alone, but Mario defeats him and obtains the first Royal Sticker.

Mario and Kersti then head to a doorway which requires stickers to be placed on it to enter into the desert. They travel through a giant pyramid and through a Sphinx shaped like a Yoshi, where they retrieve a mysterious tablet piece from Kamek, who this time turns Mario's stickers into flip flops. After that, Mario and Kersti go through the Sandshifter Ruins and the Damp Oasis, which was destroyed by a sandstorm. After a Vacuum is used to remove the sandstorm and then a Faucet to fill the pond with water, Mario gains the second tablet piece, and then returns to Drybake Desert to obtain the third tablet piece.

All of the tablet pieces reveal the Drybake Stadium, which was completely folded by Kamek thanks to his magic. After traveling up to the top floor, Mario faces Tower Power Pokey, the guardian of the second Royal Sticker, at the top. By defeating him, Mario and Kersti recover the second Royal Sticker.

The next location is a forest. At the entrance is a sleeping Wiggler who must be awakened. He says that he was looking for food, due to the entire forest being polluted by poison. Mario and Kersti decide to help Wiggler and go to his house. However, deeper in the forest, Wiggler is snatched by Poison Bloopers, although both heroes think he just ran ahead. After going through The Bafflewood Mario and Kersti arrive at Wiggler's Tree House, they find that Wiggler has been broken into five segments by Kamek's magic, four of which have run away to different parts of the forest. Mario and Kersti must find the Wiggler Segments and bring them back to the Wiggler's head.

Mario and Kersti go through the entire poison-infected forest trying to find each Wiggler Segment where various events happen, such as Mario losing his entire inventory (including his Hammer and Kersti) in Rustle Burrow (as well as fighting a Big Scuttlebug), and retrieving a Wiggler segment from a game show hosted by a Snifit that is housed inside a stump. After the Wiggler Segment is initially found and each level in World 3 cleared, it will run away to another level where it must to fought due to being enraged.

On the Outlook Point the poison is discovered to come from an island near Whitecap Beach. Here, the last Wiggler Segment, after freeing it from Poison Bloopers, is enraged by this and runs to Surfshine Harbor to get a boat and reach the island. The Toad that owns the boat refuses, because a fishing boat was recently lost at the island. After this, the Wiggler Segment decides to finally return home.

After Mario and Kersti reattach Wiggler, he decides to help them by taking them to the island where the poison comes from. There, it is shown that Gooper Blooper, corrupted by the third Royal Sticker, is the cause of the poison in the forest. After defeating the Blooper, the poison disappears, reverting the forest to its normal state, and Mario gets the Royal Sticker. Wiggler can again find himself food.

The boat at Surfshine Harbor.

To reach the other worlds, Mario and Kersti require the boat from Surfshine Harbor. The sailor Toad helps them with this after finding and placing back the boat's wheel and eventually using Scissors to remove some rope attaching the boat to the mast. However, before Mario, Kersti and the Sailor Toad can go anywhere, a Big Cheep Cheep suddenly attacks the ship. After Mario defeats it, the frightened Toad retires from sailing, enabling Mario to use the boat as he wishes.

This world is snow-themed. As Mario and Kersti travel through it, they come across The Enigmansion, where its steward is sitting outside due to the mansion being haunted by "Terrifying Things", Boos, freed from the Book of Sealing. He tasks Mario to find all 100 of them, reseal them in the book, and place it on the pedestal in the basement. After the task is completed, Kamek then reveals himself, claiming that he released the Boos by accident when he was looking for a novel about stickers. He tears out all the pages of the book, and crumples them together to form the Big Boo, and leaves. When the Big Boo is defeated and sealed again in the book, the steward thanks Mario by inviting him to enjoy tea, as well as letting Mario have Forebear's Portrait, which is of the Enigmansion's previous steward.

Mario and Kersti head to Whiteout Valley, where they use the portrait to fill the hole with the portrait. The forebear thanks Mario by starting up the ski lift, which Mario rides to reach Bowser's Snow Fort. This place is a minecart coaster which Mario must ride to reach Bowser Snow Statue. After breaking it down, it's revealed to be Mizzter Blizzard, a snowman who only wanted a body that wouldn't melt, and although the Royal Sticker gave him that, it also corrupted his mind. When Mizzter Blizzard is defeated and the fourth Royal Sticker is obtained, his final words are to beg Mario to rebuild him next winter, so they can meet on more peaceful terms.

If the player returns to the Enigmansion, the forebear has returned there, and the former steward is now a servant. Also, leaving the world causes Bowser Jr. to intercept and fight Mario. By defeating him again, Bowser Jr. retreats once more, returning to his father's castle.

At the next world, Mario and Kersti travel through a forested area where Spear Guys steal pieces of a bridge that requires crossing, ride a raft while avoiding dangerous obstacles, and getting chased by a massive cardboard Cheep Chomp. This is followed by Chomp Ruins, where Mario has to battle a massive Chain Chomp, afterwards is the volcano itself, starting in Rugged Road where Mario uses a cold Thing to freeze one part of the Volcano.

At Rumble Volcano, Petey Piranha, powered up by the fifth Royal Sticker, eats Kersti, so Mario must reach up to him and defeat Petey to free Kersti and retrieve the fifth Royal Sticker.

Arriving at the Gate Cliff, the five Royal Stickers begin to react. As Mario places them on the wall, he can paperize the wall and flip it, revealing Bowser's castle which flies to the sky, out of Mario's reach. Upon hearing mention of a creature flying over the forest and by heading to Wiggler's house, they find out Wiggler has grown up into Flutter. Wanting to repay Mario and Kersti for restoring the forest, Wiggler flies the pair up to Bowser Jr.'s Flotilla. Here, Mario defeats Bowser Jr. for the final time, and is able to reach Bowser's Sky Castle.

At the castle, Mario again faces and defeats Kamek for the last time. With him out of the way, Mario is able to continue on to Bowser at the final area of the castle, where Princess Peach is taped to a chain. During the final showdown, Bowser falls down into a pit with the last Royal Sticker, and emerges seconds later as a massive cardboard version of himself. With any attack dealing little damage to him, Kersti powers-up Mario to face him by sacrificing herself, apologizing for all the hassle she has caused him. With this power boost, Mario defeats Bowser, releasing him from the Royal Sticker's control. Mario frees Peach and uses the Royal Stickers to return everything to normal. After Peach congratulates Mario and the rest of the kingdom for their success, Bowser attempts to steal the Royal Stickers again, only for the revived Kersti to intervene. She jokes that she wants to change her career, and Mario, Peach, and Bowser laugh.

The game focuses on Mario traveling the overworld and battling enemies to progress and collect coins. Outside of battle, Mario collects a variety of stickers (which are essential throughout the game) and items and overcomes obstacles, such as bypassing a giant Wiggler or navigating a maze of playing cards.

During battle, Mario can either jump on his enemies or attack them with his hammer, as well as use stickers, items, and power-ups to subdue them. Battle stages have also been given a more three-dimensional depth than seen in the first two installments. Some elements of the game are set in a two-dimensional platform, similar to Super Paper Mario.